Mother sues Allentown officer who used Taser on her daughter

December 14, 2011|By Manuel Gamiz Jr., Of The Morning Call

The mother of a 14-year-old Dieruff High School student has filed a federal lawsuit claiming an Allentown police officer used excessive force when he shot her daughter in the groin with a stun gun during class dismissal in September.

Victoria Geist says her daughter, Keshana Wilson, had her arms raised high to indicate she surrendered when officer Jason Ammary pointed a Taser at her on Sept. 29 outside the high school and fired, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court by attorney Richard J. Orloski.

The suit claims Ammary fired the Taser directly at the teen's groin and he then filed retaliatory charges against the girl to justify using the Taser. The city is also named as a defendant for failure to control a rogue officer, says the suit, which seeks an unspecified amount of money.

According to the suit, use of the Taser came after the officer grabbed Wilson from behind without identifying himself and "violently" pushed her into the side of a parked vehicle. He placed his right forearm against her throat, choking her, the suit claims.

Orloski says the city's surveillance cameras captured the incident and back up his client's claims. An attempt to get the video, which was introduced as evidence, was unsuccessful.

Allentown police gave a different take on the events that led to the teen's being charged with aggravated assault on an officer, simple assault, riot, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and walking on the highway. During a juvenile hearing, the assault and riot charges were dismissed.

Police said Dieruff had been having problems with students being disorderly during dismissal. On Sept. 29, a large group of students crossing E. Washington Street in the 800 block had slowed to the point of stopping traffic.

According to a police report filed at the time:

Police tried to get students to move along with verbal commands. Most listened, but some remained in the middle of the street, talking on phones, texting or just not moving.

An officer approached the girl and two of her friends to get them to move along, but she began to curse, which was inciting the crowd. The officer went to arrest her for being disorderly, but she twisted away from him.

She began to resist and the officer had to lean her against the trunk of a car to place cuffs on her. The girl turned back and elbowed the officer in the chin.

The girl kept hitting the officer, so he backed up, un-holstered his Taser and fired at her. He reached down to get his cuffs, which fell during the struggle, and he placed her in custody.

The girl was taken to the hospital to have the probes from the Taser removed.

At the time, Assistant Chief Joseph Hanna said the officer was justified in using his Taser, according to the "use-of-force continuum."

The continuum — the standard police use to gauge their use of force — states that after the officer's presence and verbal commands fail, he or she can restrain and control an active resister through non-lethal means, such as pepper spray, hands, baton or the Taser.

Because the Dieruff teen was likely to injure herself or the officer, she was considered a mid-level assailant and an active resister, Hanna said at the time.

Also, Hanna said that according to the state's municipal police officers training law, officers are trained to use the justified amount of force, not the least amount. The amount and type of force, he said, are dictated by the actions of the resister, not their age or gender.

Because a lawsuit is now filed, Hanna said Monday he could not discuss the case and referred all questions to the city's solicitor. The solicitor did not return calls for comment on Monday.